1st try at studio

I had to take some studio "fashion" shots for my black and white class. but of course I had my trusty digital next to me. what do you folks think? how can I improve? oh and the model was a friend who I conned into posing for me after making her dinner

a shot of my model

She's lovely... I like the composition but the shot is a bit dark. It's probably something you can fix in post (photoshop or your tool of choice). I would try to bring up the light a bit if possible or open your aperture some.

I like the first ones composition , but like he said it seems a litlle dark. I would soften the light or bring it around to the camera more ( gets rid of that hard shadow from her hair ). Then again whiskaz , im quite new to this. One thing that stands out though is keeping the background completely dark. What is the light in front exactly ?

The pic looks good other than being a tad bit dark...with my psp I lightened it up. I hope you dont mind.

I don't mind the editing christyjo2. I forgot to edit it before I posted it up online. so this stuff is actually out of camera.

as for the light. I'm not sure what it's called but you can see a diffuser panel on it. This studio stuff is all from my school's studio that the students all use. So the background is actually the wall painted black. we have right next to it painted white. so black was easiest for me.

Looks a great start for a first studio shoot. Poses look OK to although I think the first would benefit in you raising the camera height. As it is she's visually shortened by the shoulder being close to the face in the frame. The crop also emphasises her tummy (as does the contrasting top) she's not a big girl by any means but cropping higher or slightly lower may IMHO have been more flattering. Great shots though and a beautiful subject.

Studio lighting is tough.. I'm learning it myself... Seems a dark background just absorbs all the light that should be bouncing around and illuminating your subject. These can be fixed easily in RAW if you shoot Raw.... I edited your JPGS.... bumped levels, duplicated the layer, and did gaussian blur, erased the eyes, lips and some strands of hair back in, (forgot the eyebrows... sorry) and the B&W did all those plus bumped contrast, brightness, and added a color balance layer as I like my B&W's to be a little warm... Here are my edits... great job for a first time out...

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Oh and for improving.... do more poses... I think she see's shy and reserved in front of the camera. I'd like to see her using more "attitude" if this is for a fashion class... know what I mean?

wow! she should model more often.

Beautiful model. Kristy's PP editing is excellent; it makes a good shot into a great one.

Fabulous edit, Kristy!

Thanks Jeremy... Sorry for the delayed response.. I'm buried with work lately... I'll be back on in a couple of weeks, but until then, I'll just be flying in for a quick peek at what's happening. Happy Day!